Phrases

for dear life

Derivatives

dearness

The dearness of provisions, the scarcity of fuel, and above all the failure of spinning work for the women and children have put it almost out of the power of the village poor to live by their industry.

The proportion of the dearness which the increased quantity of money brings about in the State will depend on the turn which this money will impart to consumption and circulation.

This development forced contemporary observers into positing an economic link between the perceived dearness of commodities in parts of Europe and the massive dissemination of New World gold and silver.

Origin

Old English dēore is Germanic in origin and related to Dutch dier ‘beloved’, also to Dutch duur and German teuer ‘expensive’, showing that the word has long had the two senses it still has. Darling (Old English) was a pet form of ‘dear’, while dearth (Middle English) started out as a time when things were expensive through scarcity.